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Friday, September 26, 2014

This is my last finish to share of the four I made last week. I felt so accomplished! This week I've made the top of a pillow but somehow still feel like I did some good. This quilt is number five on my Q3FAL list. This quilt is listed in my shop.

This is the Charm Pack Cherry pattern made out of Mixed Bag for Moda and Kona White. The Mixed Bag is brushed and really soft! I've never worked with brushed before but I like it and it would especially be great for a baby quilt.

I really like the colors and prints in this line. They are so modern and fresh! The origami has to be my favorite.

As usual I did a pop of color for my bindings. Most of the time I love them to stand out and be fun like this dot print.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Update: This problem has now been resolved. I let them know of the issue and this is the awesome response I received from Moda. I wonder if it is even from the same person as the ones at the bottom of this post?

modafabrics@julieschloemer
Thank you for your response. We are also very happy to report that we
had our developer look into this link issue and she was able to fix the
.html links. Now the projects that have been pinned from our Moda Bake
Shop should work seamlessly with our new site. We always appreciate
questions and concerns so we can continue to improve our site to best
fit our readers and customers. Thanks again and enjoy our new Moda Bake
Shop.

Sometimes the phrase "epic fail" really fits a situation. While the newly redesigned Moda Bake Shop site is lovely it has a major flaw. All the hundreds (thousands?) of Pinterest links are now broken. All bookmarks also lead nowhere. It says "Page not found."

Yes, yes it is. Embarrassing and a huge problem. Every link that has ever been saved is now wrong. Every pin on pinterest, every bookmark on every computer, and even Google results lead you to the above page.

If you happen to remember the actual date of the post then you're covered. The new links include this extra tidbit of information. The old links just have the year and month. You can do a direct search on the Bake Shop's site but that's the only way you're getting to your tutorial - and that only if you remember what it's called. Otherwise you're forced to scroll through five years of recipes to find the ones you want - no thanks.

I only discovered this as I created a link earlier today and one of my lovely followers pointed out that it didn't work. I'm always double checking my links to make sure my sources are cited so I went back and sure enough, not functioning. It took me over six hours to solve the problem. You're welcome.

Would it be tacky to ask for some sort of reward for discovering this little tidbit of information? Maybe? Horizon Fat Quarter Bundle? A girl can dream.

Update: You can also make the link work by taking off the .html on the end of your link.

Before I wrote this blog I let the people at Moda Bake Shop know of my problem. Here's how that went...

julieschloemer@modabakeshop
Your redesigned shop has changed all of your links. Thus all the pins and
bookmarks that everyone has created ever are no longer functional.
#fail

modafabrics@julieschloemer
We do applogize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and hope
you will still enjoy all the great tutorials all the Chefs have
provided for Free. We are continually working on improving the site and
we will do everything we can to make the site as user friendly as
possible. Thanks so much for choosing Moda Fabrics!

modafabrics@julieschloemer
We are sorry you are unhappy with the new site. All the tutorials are
still available on the new site. The links from the old site ended in
.html, whereas the new site they do not have a .html in the link at all.
Unfortunately, this is beyond our control. For example... OLD LINK:
http://www.modabakeshop.com/2014/07/peppermint-swirl-christmas-tree-skirt.html
NEW LINK:
http://www.modabakeshop.com/2014/07/peppermint-swirl-christmas-tree-skirt/

julieschloemer@modabakeshop
it is not that I am unhappy with your site. It is that every link ever
is now wrong. Every pin, every bookmark for EVERYONE. This is a huge
deal and will affect your site a lot more than it effects me. Anyone who
tries to follow a link posted before today will not be able to find it.

Their solution seems to be to make us all change ALL the links everywhere. Impossible and crazy difficult. It also negates all the work I did to save all their stuff on Pinterst and bookmarks. Sure removing that .html seems like an easy fix in theory until I have to go and do it for all my links and every other quilter everywhere has to do it as well. It seems like it would be much easier to have them figure out some sort of forwarding system. Right?

If you've ever pinned anything of theirs to pinterest this affects you! Thoughts?

I finished my Nancy Drew quilt that I began in March 2013 (post here). This finish has been on my list for what feels like forever! I'm so excited to get it out of my craft room and in use! After finishing four quilts last week I was determined to once again become a monogamous quilter but I don't have it in me any more. There are too many things and I want to start them all now! First off - the finish.

I am so glad this quilt is done and I finally get to cross it off my FAL list - fourth times the charm with this one. I'm still in love with the fabric but the quilt is not a sample of my best work. Some of the seams don't line up and I was so over it at this point the quilting is really basic and not interesting at all. Just a serpentine stitch every three-ish inches. When I first started this quilt I wanted something that would show off the fabric because I really didn't want to cut it. The end result is underwhelming but still good.

I think I may like the back even more than I once did though. It's so fun! This panel print worked so well. I think this may become a picnic/park quiltandat 74" square it is pretty perfect for that.

Now these I love!! Eight of the ten Supernova Friendship Swap blocks done. I cannot wait to put this one together.

I'm loving this one more than I thought I would. This is April Showers by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. I was inspired by this quilt but honestly the tutorial is so bad I'm basically having to figure it all out myself. She doesn't really tell you how many strips to use or how much to cut or any of the basics you would expect in a tutorial. Also if you do it willy-nilly like she did you end up with 24 extra blocks (!!!). So I'm just taking this as inspiration and running with it.

I'm part of the Instagram Mini Swap and this is the progress I made on my project. The pattern is Cut Glass in the Vintage Quilt Revival book. I bought enough fabric to make two if I decide I need one, which I think I already have.

My youngest boy (#4 of 5) has decided he needed this Fancy Fox quilt done in all orange - his favorite color. I'm pretty in love with this idea and it's now also going to be my hot pad for the Hot Pad Swap I'm also in. My partner adores foxes and it should be pretty perfect.

Last but not least I volunteered to test a pattern for Kitty over at Night Quilter. I'm so excited about this one. It's going to be a rainbow fish pillow that is paper piecedwith a low volume text background.

I'm linking up all this loveliness over at Freshly Pieced for WiP Wednesday.

Friday, September 19, 2014

When I first saw the tutorial for the BYU Pixel quilt I knew I had to have it! I started collecting dark blues and low volume that day.It took me four months from that post to get enough fabric and to finish the quilt. Pretty darn good I'd say considering I have quilts on Pinterest that are years old.

My hubby and I both graduated from BYU. BA in English for me and a BS in Agronomy for him. I adore this picture with our BYU shirts on. Four of my five kids took turns taking pictures of us and it seems #2 has a future in photography. The baby tried but just managed to drool on the camera.

I think the most interesting this about this quilt is how it's hard to tell what it is from less than four feet away. It's just a blobby collection of fun fabric. However, I love how it looks from across the room.

In truth I love how it looks from up close too! I am very picky about my fabric lately and I just love all of these prints!

I thought this print from the Figures line by Zen Chic for Moda was pretty fun and perfect for binding.

It also matches the backing well which is also from the Figures line (sorry the pic wouldn't load right side up). I used blue variegated Aurifil thread to quilt it and I love it!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

I had an amazingly productive week. My guild held an all-day sewing day on Saturday and I took along three quilts. I quilted and bound one of them that day. I also quilted another and bound it the next day. On a roll I quilted and bound the third on Monday. Since they are all on my 3QFAL list I have to share them one at a time. I'm starting with the one I finished on Sunday. I also made time to nearly finish a crochet order from my shop and spent HOURS unpicking quilting from my second oldest WiP. Finally I chose fabrics for my exciting things next in line. I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

Here's my finish. This is #3 on my Q3FAL list. It's another one with the Line Dance pattern - love! This one was done with Chirp Chirp by MoMo for Moda. It has a great fall feel and I love the 1" straight line quilting. This is available in my shop here.

I love the backing on this one and that orange binding is so fun. I love a fun binding!

This is an order that just needs ears. It is a Sheep Hat which has to be my favorite one in my shop.

Here's the one I spent all my time unpicking. I had intended this quilt to be FMQing practice but my old sewing machine couldn't manage the tension properly and after 11 squares I decided it was too big of a mess to keep going. I was also frustrated with how my thread hid all the beautiful fabric. I've since given up on the FMQ idea and will probably do straight lines and get some solid or something more plain to try again later. It took me hours and hours to unpick all this and I should have just stopped when I didn't love the first square or two instead of pushing on.

I'm currently participating in three swaps/exchanges and I'm so excited about them! I have all my fabric and patterns picked out and am excited to get started.

This awesome fabric is for my partner in the IGminiswap. I am so excited about this one and have loved seeing what everyone is coming up with. Mine is going to be a paper pieced pattern from the book Vintage Quilt Revival.

The second one is a hot pad swap. I had these pieces partially sewn together for a different project that I went a different direction with. So now they are all ready for a hot pad with simple patchwork.

I forgot about this last one until last night (!!!). These are for my Supernova Friendship Swap. It was supposed to be a block and we usually mail on the 10th. Sorry Izzy! It's totally going to be late this month.

Let's see if I can keep up my productive streak and finish (or at least start) some of these things this week!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I'm excited to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop! I've seen several bloggers I follow get tagged and if it came to me I knew exactly who I was going to tag. Well, she tagged me! The lovely Izzy of Dizzy Quilts is my partner in the Supernova Friendship Swap. Izzy and I have participated in several of the same quilt-a-longs and it's been fun to follow her and develop a friendship with someone I've never met in a part of the world I've never been.

So the blog hop has four questions I'm supposed to answer so here goes...

1. What am I working on?

- So I used to be a monogamous quilter. I wouldn't even look at other fabric let alone buy any until my current project was completely bound. Well, now I'm no longer faithful to any one project. I've come to appreciate the ability to sew my wild oats, so to speak. You can see my Q3 FAL list on the side of my blog here. They are linked when complete. At the start of this quarter these were all the projects that I had everything I needed to complete them - including binding and backing fabric.

So here is what I spend all my time dreaming about when I'm with my BYU quilt. Isn't it awful? I can't even be with one project anymore - lol. I have plans for these, big plans.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?- You know - I don't know that it does. I think the only way it can be different is that I don't let what other people love influence me. If I make a quilt or use a fabric line I don't do it because it's popular or because everyone is making them. I do it because I really want to try out that fabric/pattern/technique. Some times that makes my work modern, some times super traditional. As long as I'm true to myself I think that's good enough for me.

Just so you can have a picture to do with that question here is my current favorite quilt. It's my Kate Spain Charming Stars quilt. You can read more about this here.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

- I quilt because I love it! I love so much about the process. The excitement of finding new fabric, the precision of cutting, the relaxation of piecing, the growth of quilting, and the joy of finishing it off with a fun binding. I find the whole thing rewarding and I love that I will leave something behind and with my skills have made the world a warmer and more beautiful place. I love to give quilts as gifts - especially to people who appreciate their value.

I made this quilt for my SIL who just adores Harry Potter. It was such a fun project to work on for her and you can read more about it here.

- I also have an Etsy shop - That's Sew Julie. There I sell things to help fund my projects and to buy little extras for my big family. I have a few quilts there but it is mostly crochet things like hats. I adore crochet about as much as quilting. It's relaxing and I can do it while watching my kids. Here's a collage of some of my creations...

This is some of what is in my shop. I love to create custom hats so I let you choose your yarn colors and size from Newborn to Adult in nearly every hat. Visit my shop here.

4. How does my writing/creating process work?

- This is a tricky question for me because I'm really all over the place creatively. I can either get my inspiration from fabric and find a pattern that works well with it or I find a pattern I love and search for the perfect fabric. Rarely do I create something I love just from my brain without the use of a pattern. I'm okay with that. Not all singers write their own songs or even have to in order to create beautiful music - I'm mostly the same way. Every once in a while inspiration will strike and I will create something I love that is solely me. Here are two examples...

This one was all me from the fabric choices to the design and the intense echo quilting. You can read more about it here. I used a double wedding ring template and turned it into appliqued flowers and I just adore how it came out.

For this quilt I combined a lot of different things that I love to make an all-new quilt. These are a collection of my favorite stars popped into a layout found in Vintage Quilt Revival. You can read about this quilt here.

Thanks for stopping by! This is the part where I'm supposed to tag someone else and keep the hop moving. Well, most of the bloggers I follow have already done it. If you're interested let me know and I'll keep searching for someone to pass it on to. I'll update the post with a lucky someone when I find them. ;) As for now I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday.

I finished cutting out all the squares this morning. I am a tall girl and the original was intended for a baby so I increased the size a bit by adding four more rows to the skinny side and cutting the squares at 3.5" instead of 2.5". It will finish at 75" by 87".

This Crab Hat has been my most popular hat by far. I worked up this order from my shop including a diaper cover to match (found in a separate listing here). I've made a surprising number of this for adult males but this one is for a cute baby Halloween costume.

My mom saw my adorable bird bag (left) and decided she needed one. We had fun shopping at my favorite LQS to pick her out some fabric and make her a matching Emily Bag (pattern here). I think I may like hers better than mine.

The outside of her bag is canvas weight but I can't remember the designer. I love this raspberry color and this other print from Joel Dewberry's new line Birch Farm looks so great with it! I love Joel Dewberry!

Here's a better shot of the Birch Farm print. I used a gold-ish colored snap and I convinced my mom to let me do a pop of color on the zipper. I love it! It almost didn't make it on the plane with her. I do have extra fabric from this project though so I may need to make me a little something with it.

Well, that's my week. It was fun and I can't wait to see progress on my BYU quilt! I'm linking up over at WiP Wednesday.